User blog:JohnnyOTGS/JohnnyTalk World Special~Eclipses
Hello everybody and welcome to my first edition of JohnnyTalk World my first edition is a special edition, this blog will talk about some interesting facts about Eclipses. As many of you know already, that this coming Monday, our nation (the USA) will witness one of the most fascinating phenomena in the history of astronomy: An Eclipse. This time it is a Solar Eclipse, and this one will go from the West Coast of our nation to the East Coast, the first time in almost a century (the last time this happened was on June 8, 1918). This blog however will talk about both Solar and Lunar Eclipses and their differences. As we all know about eclipses, is actually a shadow casted by either the Earth or the Moon (depending on what casts a shadow), but there are other things about Solar and Lunar Eclipses that may or may not surprise you. Solar Eclipse Solar Eclipses happen during the day (no duh) and it's when the Moon goes across the day sky at any given region on the Earth and it casts it's shadow on the Earth. During a Total Solar Eclipse, day can litterally turn into night as you can see the nighttime stars (as you would on a clear night) However, the area of totality is relatively small and the time of totality of a Solar Eclipse may be just a few minutes, eventhough the entire Eclipse itself can last for a few hours. It is almost like taking a fine tipped black colored marker and drawing a line across a region of the Earth, and only the people in that "Fine Black Line" can see a Total Solar Eclipse. Because it is quite rare for a Total Solar Eclipse to be viewed, it is usually talked about for several months before the event happens. Lunar Eclipse A Lunar Eclipse is the opposite as it occurs at night, and it's when the Earth's Shadow crosses the Moon. Unlike Total Solar Eclipses however, Total Lunar Eclipses are seen in more areas of the world (sometimes the entire night aide of the Earth) and can last for several hours (maybe even the entire night), and a Total Lunar Eclipse can even make the Moon a brown-ish red color (sometimes called a Blood Moon) this is because of light refracting through the shadow of the Earth through a process called Rayleigh Scattering (the same refracting light during sunsets). Other things Now, you may ask "Why do Total Lunar Eclipses last longer than Total Solar Eclipses?" well. The answer is very easy, the Earth is bigger than the Moon, so the Earth's Shadow is bigger. There are also ancient myths of Eclipses of either mythical Snakes or Dragons consuming the Sun, or the Moon which may or may not hacve caused panic among ancient cultures who came up with these myths. Eclipses continue to fascinate us, even in our modern era of science. Well, that is it for this special edition of JohnnyTalk World. Don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis, until next time this is JohnnyOTGS signing out. Category:Blog posts